All of a sudden, the Cubs have a lot of injury scares. I wasn't too worried about being without Daryle Ward and Alfonso Soriano, at least in comparison to the injuries that have plagued the St. Louis Deadbirds, but now that the Cubs centerfield platoon is all of a sudden in shambles and Carlos Zambrano awaits MRI results, I feel like my Cubs world has done somewhere between a 180 and a 360.

The thought of the Cubs being without Zambrano is frightening. I already felt strongly in the Cubs getting starting pitching help from a 1 or 2 caliber starter. Being without Big Z would make that imperative. I'm sure if Carlos goes anywhere beyond the 15-30 day DL range, Hendry is going to have a blank check to get whatever it takes, not that he doesn't have one already. I don't like thinking of any upside to an injury to our beloved ace, but if it makes Hendry more aggressive, that's not a bad thing.

Injury fears put aside my complaints about the middle of the lineup temporarily. The disappointment in the Rays series so far is a blame I put solely on the shoulders of Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez. When your teammates find ways of getting on base against Andy Sonnanstine, like Cedeno, Fukudome and Theriot did in the 5^th inning last night and they're not the middle of the order superstars, you have no excuses. The Cubs had one out and men on the corners last night and Lee struck out and Ramirez popped out.

Lee is really starting to bother me. After a six-game hitting streak and 5 hits in the Blue Jays series, I thought Derrek was finding his way out of the slump, but his 0-for-6 series so far against Tampa Bay has made me forget most of that. He has just 7 RBI in his last 15 outings, 3 of which came in one Toronto game. He's taking a lot of pitches and getting on base, but he's not driving them home.

Ramirez only has 6 RBI in his last 15 games. Although amassing 14 hits in that time period, he hasn't punched anyone in-maybe that's Lee's fault being ahead of him.

Meanwhile, Lou Piniella's lineup looks like a circus between the DH and the Cubs newfound myriad of injuries. Players are all over the lineup and all over the field, with DeRosa playing 2B, 3B and both right and left field. Hopefully the inconsistency will dissipate when the Cubs get back home for the "Cross-town Classic," which I will give an in-depth look at tomorrow.